It was August 31, 2011 and the Boston Red Sox had just notched a 9-5 victory over the New York Yankees adding to their first place lead over their division rivals. At 83-52 .615 the Sox were firmly in control of their own destiny and another play-off run look assured. A week later they were 2.5 games behind the Yankees and would win only five more games the rest of the season. That month of September ball and the next six months that followed would put together some of the worst baseball played and managed in these parts in 45 years.

Fast forward to April 28 2013 and your Boston Red Sox own the best record in baseball. Starting with the manager, John Farrell who has brought a standard of professionalism and responsibility to the corner office, the team has improved both on and off the field. Third base coach Brian Butterfield has been perfect and blameless waving/holding runners at the hot corner. Defense in the outfield has been stellar, and Johnny Gomes has provided some unexpected highlights. Daniel Nava has exceeded his history and finds himself often times slotted second in the order to take advantage of his patience and keen batting eye.

The darlings of ST, Jose Iglesias and Jackie Bradley Jr have been sent to Pawtucket and have not been missed. David Ortiz has been reborn, and hits the ball so much to left that an opposite field shift would be a smarter defensive against him now. The starters especially Clay Buchholz and John Lester have returned to form, and the others Sox starters have been very decent in their outings, the bullpen has been almost unreachable.

Taken as a whole, this team right now as constituted has put the previous seven months of dark history well behind us. Sit back, relax, and put your Sox on!

Starting with the manager, John Farrell who has brought a standard of professionalism and responsibility to the corner office, the team has improved both on and off the field.

He understands where he fits in, in the mode of Tito Francona, Girardi, Torre, Leyland, etc. It's about winning BB games, and if he has to answer questions from the press, it's treated as a necessary nuisance, and not something to look forward to.

He seems to look into the individual matchups even more than Tito did. He also has a good sense of gambling. He brings in the back end of the BP when we haven't quite wrapped up the game yet.

As I said on the game thread last night, I loved him bringing in Miller last night. It wasn't a save situation, but Miller has been shaky and it was still only 4 runs. We not only saved Bailey for another day, it has to do wonders for Miller's confidence that we still trust him enough for the 9th inning, and that he plays a more important role than just a LOOGY. That's gotta be a good feeling for Miller to close out the 9th.

Starting with the manager, John Farrell who has brought a standard of professionalism and responsibility to the corner office, the team has improved both on and off the field.

He understands where he fits in, in the mode of Tito Francona, Girardi, Torre, Leyland, etc. It's about winning BB games, and if he has to answer questions from the press, it's treated as a necessary nuisance, and not something to look forward to.

He seems to look into the individual matchups even more than Tito did. He also has a good sense of gambling. He brings in the back end of the BP when we haven't quite wrapped up the game yet.

As I said on the game thread last night, I loved him bringing in Miller last night. It wasn't a save situation, but Miller has been shaky and it was still only 4 runs. We not only saved Bailey for another day, it has to do wonders for Miller's confidence that we still trust him enough for the 9th inning, and that he plays a more important role than just a LOOGY. That's gotta be a good feeling for Miller to close out the 9th.

Proving that filling out the line-up card and making decisions during the game are critical to success. It seemed as if guys like Showalter and Leyland always have matchups figured out before they happen. Last year Buck let 1B Chris Davis pitch when he ran out of pitchers in extra innings, insteead of using the planned next day starter. Davis held down the Sox and Baltimore came back to win. The next day Baltimore got clobbered 14-3 and Buck only used three pitchers, his starter Brian Matusz, and two non critical members of the bullpen. The regular pen was allowed to rest and live to fight another day.